Friday, August 31, 2012

Brain Breaks, Fake Reading and Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Brain Breaks-
Well, our grade level is heavy on the boy side. I have 8 girls and 15 boys. I am on a quest for brain break ideas that are not so hokey that they make me cringe. Some, I have seen are just too much!
I did find a few good ones so far. Here are the links to the two we have tried.
The Sid Shuffle!

My kids are cracking me up! I watched them walking to lunch doing some of the moves.

Even during our science investigation...I say a few Sid moves! Too funny.

My other one....

Gotcha My students loved this one!!! Of course, we had to stop and talk about the safe way to do a brain break!

I started with reading a section of my, Engaged Students, book to my student and then having them critiquing my reading ability.
Some comments...
"You really didn't stop long at periods."
"You backed up and fixed your mistake."
"I think you skipped words." (I didn't...just hard words for fifth grader.)
"You tried to make it interesting, but it wasn't."
When they were finished, my students had wide eyes and an open mouth as I told them I had no idea what I had just read. I really did not remember what I had just read!
I also asked them what was hanging out of my book...sticky notes. I explained that I HAD to have them! I HAVE to make notes while I am reading....especially this book! I also explained that I have to stop and think about what I am reading or I'm making grocery lists, thinking about what I need to get done, gotta get the laundry folded, lesson plans...
I asked if any of them had ever done any fake reading? Nervous shifting from my students. You could almost see what was circling in their head...Is this a trick question? How are we supposed to answer this? I let them off the hook and told them that I have fake read before! Huge eyes and more nervous shifting. It happens! From that point on...we made a pact not to fake read anymore!
In comes metacognition!

So, as our activity, I gave each student the poem, Jelly Beans Up My Nose by Jeff Moss. I then told them they had to highlight at least 5 sentences that spoke to them...metacognition. Out to the side of the line, they had to create a thought bubble of something that came to mind while they were reading.

Next day, 3 to a group, a picture book and 6+ thought bubbles while they read. I posted thinking stems for them to use.

Tuesday, we talk about schema!

And finally...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

With all the boys in my class and the area where we live...Little League Baseball is big!

You could also use Excel or Numbers to have students create a spreadsheet. The goal was to spend as close to $175 without going over. One of my boys got to $174, but said he gave a tip to the concession stand workers to make it $175! Love it!

4 comments:

I love the Reading Comprehensions book too! I blogged about that lesson, I thought it went so well with my students. I created some freebies (speech bubbles) and a graphic organizer for each of the strategies taught within the book. I am so glad I found your blog and can't wait to read more!AmyThe Resource(ful) Room